This strikes me as a nonsense word naming a nonsense concept.
But who knows I might be wrong. (Yes, I am wrong sometimes… I remember the last time I was wrong… it was a Thursday, I think… about seven years ago… and, yes, I am only joking).
The word ‘transhumanism’ was coined in 1957 by Julian Huxley in his essay New Bottles for New Wine.
Julian Huxley (1887-1975) was an English biologist who had all sorts of weird beliefs (including in eugenics—stopping lesser people from breeding—and parapsychology and spiritualism).
One of the mad ideas he dreamed up was ‘transhumanism’—the belief that humans can deliberately evolve beyond their current physical and mental limitations.
Different ‘transhumanists’ have a range of different ideas.
Some of them seem to think that the next level of human evolution will be human brains (or human minds) kept alive forever inside computers (sounds like a heap of fun!)
Some have pictured robots (so not static computers, but walking, talking bipeds) inside of which are human minds—kept alive forever inside repairable machines.
Huxley wanted to consciously apply scientific knowledge to overcome biological and social limitations.
I mention this because one of the key founders of AI, Eliezer Yudkowsky (who I mentioned yesterday), seems to have started his journey into the world of strange ideas with this one—'transhumanism.’
My own view (for whatever it’s worth) is that human beings are souls—and that souls survive death, so immortality is already part of being human without any technological interference being required.
Anyway, I thought this was an interesting word (and interesting notion) that you might be intrigued to hear about.
(Something a bit more mainstream tomorrow!)
Tonight I will join Peta Credlin on News24 for 'Words Matter.'
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BY THE WAY...
If you'd like to see my A-Z list of Aussie slang, you'll find it here in the Australian Geographic website -- A-Z list of Aussie slang. Here’s the link: The A-Z of Aussie slang - Australian Geographic
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